A typical ceiling fan includes a down rod assembly suspended from the ceiling with a motor shaft which is connected to a lower portion of the down rod assembly. A motor body rotates about the motor shaft. A motor housing which surrounds the motor may be secured to either the motor shaft or the down rod assembly, which remain stationary. Blade mounting arms, also referred to as blade irons, are connected to the motor body and extend out of an opening of the motor housing or below the motor housing. A hub is attached to the motor shaft below the fan blades and blade irons.
A conventional ceiling fan blade typically consists of a solid unitary member of wood, metal or plastic, or a frame with a covering made of nylon or some other suitable material. In both cases, however, the blade is usually attached to the fan motor by means of a standardized mounting structure commonly referred to as the blade iron. The prior art provides numerous examples of fan blades that are attached to the fan motor with the aid of a blade iron. In a typical ceiling fan, the fan blade must first be attached to the blade iron, which in turn must be attached to the motor housing.
Conventional blade irons used in the art tend to be discrete structures that are separable from the fan blades and the fan housing. Typically, conventional blade irons are connected to their respective fan blades via their distal ends and are connected to the fan motor or motor housing via their proximal ends. Conventional blade irons are often decorative in nature and are used primarily to enhance the overall appearance of the ceiling fan rather than in a utilitarian role. In other words, the specific structural design of conventional blade irons are not always critical to the operational ability of ceiling fans.
The use of a conventional blade iron to attach a fan blade to a fan motor can add to the cost of the fan's manufacture and make it more expensive for purchase by a consumer. In addition, the presence of a blade iron can add to the weight of a fan, and thereby make it less efficient from an energy consumption standpoint. Additionally, it is a common commercial practice for ceiling fans to be shipped to the end user in an unassembled state. Therefore, a ceiling fan requires assembly prior to installation. This often challenging task can be made easier if the ceiling fan blades are capable of being easily connected to the rest of the ceiling fan unit.
Accordingly, it would be desirable to have a ceiling fan blade attachment mechanism where the ceiling fan blades are capable of being connected to a fan motor by a mechanism that is easy and convenient to the consumer. It would also be desirable to have a ceiling fan blade attachment mechanism that provides an easy and convenient way to assemble and disassemble fan blades from the motor.